The Edmonton Wildcats (formerly the Edmonton Maple Leafs) are

Canadian football Canadian football () is a team sport, sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's sco ...

team based in

Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anchor ...

. The Wildcats play in the

Prairie Football Conference The Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL) is a national Major Junior Canadian football league consisting of 19 teams playing in five provinces across Canada. The teams compete annually for the Canadian Bowl. Many CJFL players move on to profess ...

, which is part of the

Canadian Junior Football League The Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL) is a national Major Junior Canadian football league consisting of 19 teams playing in five provinces across Canada. The teams compete annually for the Canadian Bowl. Many CJFL players move on to profess ...

and competes for the league championship, the

Canadian Bowl The Canadian Bowl is the championship of the Canadian Junior Football League. The three conference champions participate in the playdowns for the championship. One champion receives a bye to the game, while the other two play off in the Jostens Cup ...

. The team was founded in 1948.

History

The team was founded as the Edmonton Maple Leafs in 1948, as a member of the Alberta Junior Football League (which was a conference in the

). The Maple Leafs lost the 1951 National Final to the

Hamilton Tigers The Hamilton Tigers were a professional ice hockey team based in Hamilton, Ontario. They competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1920 to 1925. The Tigers were formed by the sale of the Quebec Bulldogs NHL franchise to Hamilton intere ...

. 1952 marked the second appearance of the Edmonton Wildcats in the national final, resulting in a narrow loss to

Windsor AKO Fratmen The St. Clair Fratmen are a Canadian football team based in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The team has played in the Canadian Junior Football League's Ontario Football Conference since the 1940s and won national titles in 1952, 1954, and 1999. The te ...

. In 1958 the team's colors were changed to blue and white from green and gold. Due to the construction of the

Commonwealth Stadium Commonwealth Stadium is an open-air, multipurpose stadium located in the McCauley neighbourhood of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It has a seating capacity of 56,302, making it the largest open-air stadium in Canada. Primarily used for Canadian fo ...

in 1976 on the site of the old Wildcat practice field, the Wildcats took up residence at Tiger Goldstick Park in Southeast Edmonton. The team would play its regular season games at Emerald Hills Football Field. The Wildcats have been successful in three appearances in the national final. In 1967 they defeated the

Burlington Braves The Burlington Braves were a Canadian junior football league team. Founded in 1958 in Burlington, Ontario, they played in the Ontario Football Conference of the Canadian Junior Football League. Following the 2015 season, the club moved its opera ...

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 C ...

. In 1977, the Wildcats defeated the

Hamilton Hurricanes The Hamilton Hurricanes are a junior Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario. Founded in 1963, the team competes in the Ontario Football Conference of the Canadian Junior Football League The Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL) is ...

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...

and in 1983 defeated the Ottawa Sooners in

Windsor, Ontario Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the souther ...

. In 1994, the team moved to its current practice field, Rundle Park. The team made it to the 2006

, but lost to the

Vancouver Island Raiders The Vancouver Island Raiders are a Canadian Junior Football team based in Nanaimo, British Columbia. The Raiders play in the six-team B.C. Football Conference, which itself is part of the Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL) and competes annual ...

. They also were runner up in the 2009 championship game.

Gallery

References

External links

Edmonton Wildcats official siteCanadian Junior Football League

Wild Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to: Common meanings * Wild animal * Wilderness, a wild natural environment * Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed Art, media and entertainment Film and television * ''Wild'' (2014 film), a 2014 A ...

Canadian Junior Football League teams Sports clubs established in 1948 1948 establishments in Alberta {{Edmonton-stub